The Importance of Belonging in College

The unique culture of college can be especially difficult for first-generation students to navigate and understand.

First-generation students, studies show, often feel invisible and as if they don’t belong on a college campus.

Student sense of belonging is directly correlated to success in higher education, according to academic experts.

Hailey Richards, 20, is a first-generation college student at Western Michigan University who has struggled to fit in and figure out college life. In the following excerpts, Richards reveals what she wishes WMU would have done to make her transition to college easier in terms of social inclusivity and support. Listen to the 2-minute edited conversation here:

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This website features the reporting, writing and multimedia work of undergraduate students at various levels of the WMU journalism curriculum. The student work published here is intended to both showcase the work that students in the program are doing as well as serve as another source of information about the Kalamazoo community and current issues.
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